Governor says that São Paulo will file a lawsuit to secure the Santos – Guarujá bridge

Governor João Doria said on February 10 that São Paulo will file a lawsuit to secure the immediate construction of the bridge connecting the municipalities of Santos and Guarujá on the state’s coast if the Federal Government does not grant authorization to the works soon.

According to a statement released by the government of São Paulo, the private sector will invest R$ 3.9 billion in the bridge. The only thing keeping the project to come to fruition is the lack of federal government approval.

Since the administration’s inception, Doria has been a staunch supporter of the bridge’s construction. The government of São Paulo, represented by the Department of Logistics and Transportation,  began negotiations with the Federation in 2019 and delivered the bridge project in 2020 as per the federal government’s requests. The project included the expansion of the navigable span to 750 meters.

Since then, however, the state says that it awaits approval for the start of the works, which will not depend on public resources thanks to the concession contract of the Anchieta-Imigrantes System.

According to the state government, the bridge project was certified by the USP Naval Engineering Laboratory and the Air Force Command. Both institutions guaranteed that the bridge would not harm the operations of the Port of Santos and the airport of Guarujá. Furthermore, the bridge is expected to reduce the distance from 45 km to less than 20 km, with travel time from one hour to 20 minutes.

Underwater tunnel

The bridge project between Santos and Guarujá is being evaluated alongside an underwater tunnel between the two cities. According to the Ministry of Infrastructure, the most appropriate solution will be defined in response to the cost and time, regardless of the port privatization.

In August of last year, Tarcisio Gomes, the Minister of Infrastructure, spoke out against the Santos-Guarujá bridge project. During a virtual event organized by Grupo Tribuna, he stated that the state government was reformulating the project to address port issues. Still, he believes constructing a tunnel would be ideal to avoid disrupting the Port’s navigation.

Source: G1

To read the full original article, please see:

https://g1.globo.com/sp/santos-regiao/porto-mar/noticia/2022/02/10/doria-quer-inicio-imediato-de-obras-de-ponte-interligando-santos-e-guaruja-sp.ghtml.

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